Speaker: Zihao Zhang, Assistant Professor

Affiliation: University of Tennessee, USA

Date & Time: Tuesday, July 1, 2025 | 14:00–15:30

Venue: Conference Room 600, Building 4, Zhangjiang Campus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Host: Yifan Sun, Associate Professor

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysis is essential to modern chemical engineering, chemistry, and energy applications. While reaction mechanisms have been extensively studied under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) on clean, well-defined surfaces, applying these insights under practical conditions remains challenging. This is due to (1) the dynamic evolution of complex catalyst surfaces and (2) the difficulty in detecting highly reactive, short-lived intermediates. These challenges often lead to a "cook-and-look" approach in catalyst development. In situ (operando) spectroscopy, which captures real-time structural and chemical information under working conditions, offers a powerful path forward. This talk highlights how such techniques are used to uncover mechanisms in CO oxidation, propane dehydrogenation, and C1 coupling under realistic conditions.

Brief introduction

Zihao Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). His research focuses on catalytic conversion of underutilized resources, such as biomass, biogas, and natural gas, into value-added chemicals, fuels, and materials through rational catalyst design. He completed postdoctoral training at ETH Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (2019–2024), after earning his Ph.D. in Chem. Eng. from Zhejiang University in 2019 with a visiting period at UT (2018–2019). He has authored over 70 publications, including 30+ first-author papers in top journals such as Nat Chem Eng, Nat Commun, Angew Chem, J Am Chem Soc, ACS Catal.